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         Jailed Uighur Intellectual Denied Meeting With Lawyer in China

   A lawyer for jailed Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti says he has been
   denied access to his client in China`s western Xinjiang province.
   Speaking to VOA from the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi Thursday, Li
   Fangping said he was told he could not meet because the case of alleged
   separatism involves state secrets.
   He added that the charges are groundless.
   "(Ilham) once released a four-point statement, one of which said he
   would not have any separatist words and actions. Now the charge against
   him is separatism. We think there is lack of evidence, and it is not
   persuasive at all."
   Chinese authorities charged Tohti, a university professor, with
   separatism this week, nearly six weeks after he was taken from his
   Beijing apartment without explanation.
   He regularly speaks out against what he considers China`s mistreatment
   of the mainly Muslim Uighurs in the far western region of Xinjiang;
   but, there appears to be no public record of him calling for
   independence in Xinjiang.
   Tohti now faces anywhere from 10 years to life in prison or even the
   death penalty, depending on how serious his alleged offense is deemed
   by China`s Communist Party-controlled courts.
   China says it is fighting what it calls Uighur terrorists affiliated
   with the banned East Turkestan Islamic Movement and trained in
   neighboring Pakistan.
   Many Western human rights groups say China is exaggerating the threat
   in order to justify its repression of Muslim religious life and
   discrimination that has resulted from a large influx of majority Han
   Chinese to Xinjiang.
   (This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Mandarin
   service.)
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/jailed-uighur-intellectual-denied-mee
   ting-with-lawyer-in-china/1860782.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/jailed-uighur-intellectual-denied-meeting-with-lawyer-in-china/1860782.html